Creating a classroom culture for engineering
Designing Healthy Ice Pops
A STEM enrichment project for second graders incorporates
nutrition and design principles.
By Laura Bubnick, Katie Enneking, and Julie Egbers
S
cience, technology, engineer-
ing, and math (STEM) edu-
cation piques students’ innate
curiosity and opens their eyes to
hundreds of career possibilities.
However, it can also be hard to in-
fuse STEM into a course if it is not a
planned, integral part of the curric-
ulum. With the standards that need
to be covered, reading and writ-
ing initiatives, and preparation for
standardized tests, teachers can find
it challenging to integrate STEM
projects into their lessons.
In grades 3–12, attitudes regard-
ing STEM range from total en-
thusiasm to sheer unwillingness to
participate. Often, teachers hold a
misconception that students—spe-
cifically, elementary students—
can’t do STEM. At the start of this
school year, I met an exception. Julie
Egbers at Independence Elementary
wanted to try something new with
her second graders. Time had been
carved out in the school’s sched-
ule—40 minutes each day—for
“Tutorial and Enrichment” (TE).
Across the building, students were
grouped into classes based on need:
some for remediation in math and
reading, others for enrichment ex-
periences. Mrs. Egbers’s TE class
consisted of a rambunctious and ad-
vanced group of second graders who
needed enrichment in the form of a
70 Science and Children
good challenge. She felt a solid and
rigorous STEM lesson would be a
great place to start.
Luckily, the building principal
had some extra funds to support
the project. Katie Enneking (the
academic coach) joined in as we
searched the web and some district-
designated STEM sites, but none of
their projects seemed to capture the
interests and talents of this group of
students. We pooled our ideas and
created the STEM lesson “Design-
ing Healthy Ice Pops.” This lesson,
designed to take approximately four
weeks, would allow students to ex-
perience the process of research, de-
sign, evaluation, modification, and
presentation, skills that are tied to the
Next Generation Science Standards
(NGSS Lead States 2013). In addi-
tion, we used the “Seven Essentials
for Project-Based Learning” (Larm-
er and Mergendoller 2010) to guide
our design process. The “Essentials”
stress that a project must inspire stu-
dents with “a need to know;” have a
good driving question; allow learners
to have more voice and choice; pro-
vide opportunities for 21st-century
skills such as collaboration, commu-
nication, critical thinking, and use of
technology; provide opportunities
for feedback and revision; and make
schoolwork more meaningful by pre-
senting it to a real audience.
Our planning time focused on
those ideals. For example, while we
sketched out milestones for students
to reach each week, there was ample
time built in for students to affect
the process through their question-
ing and revisions. We strove to in-
tegrate this because most “regular”
science lessons do not include time
for students to redo an experiment
and make revisions to their pro-
cess. We wanted to allow students
the time and ability to update their
product based on peer feedback. We
felt students needed to design their
own recipes and have opportunities
to communicate about what was and
was not working well. Lastly, stu-
dents would be given the opportuni-
ty to present their final product—a
healthy ice pop—to both their peers
(i.e., the consumers) and the ad-
ministration, which would buy the
product to sell in the cafeteria.
Week 1: Questions
and Research
At the project kickoff, students were
given the following scenario:
You are ice pop experts who have
worked for several years in the frozen
snacks business. Your task is to create
a new flavor that will be a tasty and
healthy treat. Your goal is to sell it to
school districts to offer to students at
lunch. Your challenge is to present to FIGURE 1.
the principal your new flavor. Include
the steps that you have taken in the A student-generated letter inviting a nutritionist to
production of the ice pop to ensure speak to the class.
that it is a healthy alternative to the
other snacks offered by the school.

The work focuses around two es-

sential questions:
1. What are the essential ingredi-
ents needed to make a healthy
ice pop to sell in the school
cafeteria?
2. How could we market and sell
the ice pops?

After students were introduced to

the project, they started planning. As
a group, they generated the follow-
ing steps to be taken, in no particular
order:
• Collect things: real fruit, water,
blenders
• Consider packaging materials:
craft sticks, small paper cups
• Experiment with and taste
sample recipes
• Research what goes into a
“healthy” ice pop
• Create the recipes
• Talk to a nutritionist or dietitian
about what makes a “healthy”
ice pop
The next step in this design
process was for students to gener- the nutritional aspects associated Once the nutritionist was invited,
ate a letter inviting a nutritionist to with foods was integral to the recipe students began their own research
class (see Figure 1), so that students design process and met K-LS1 of the on what should be included in their
could ask which foods would make NGSS. Students learned about the healthy recipes. Students used iPads
a healthy ice pop and which foods differences between fruits and veg- to scan a QR code that was posted on
would be important to avoid because etables and the nutritional content each table, which linked to a Sym-
of allergy concerns. Learning about associated with both. baloo with some student-friendly

September 2016 71

PHOTOS COURTESY OF THE AUTHORS
Adult volunteers help students blend their recipes.
health websites (see Internet Re-
source). Symbaloo is a free site that
allows any teacher to create a board
or grid of links to multiple websites.
The tiles can be customized by color,
symbol, or name to allow a teacher
to group by topic—e.g., sample reci-
pes, health information, and so on.
The teacher can create the Symbaloo
and share the site link with students,
where they find a structured place to
search within the teacher-designated
sites. If a new site needs to be added
quickly, the teacher can update the
Symbaloo on the fly and refresh it for
students to use almost immediately.
Using their notes, pairs of stu-
72 Science and Children
dents generated a list of the five main
ingredients they felt were essential.
Student feedback was positive, ex-
cited, and engaged. For example:
Ryan: “All the fruits in season are my
favorite!”
Megan: “I like this recipe because it
has pineapple in it and I love pine-
apple!”
Week 2: Recipe
Testing and Feedback
Students next generated their own
questions and interviewed the guest
nutritionist. She spoke about foods
that would be both tasty and healthy
in the ice pops and, based on
the allergies on record in the
school, what foods to avoid. In
subsequent days, students reworked
their recipes based on the new infor-
mation.
Based on their interests, students
were organized into groups, and
each group member was given one
of the following responsibilities: re-
corder, project manager, time keeper,
researcher, or materials manager.
Groups first had to compromise on
one version of the recipe, writing
specific quantities of ingredients on
poster paper. Once all groups had
their recipes prepared, Mrs. Egbers
discussed with the class what it meant
to give “constructive feedback” to
other groups. According to Larmer
and Mergendoller (2010), formalizing
feedback emphasizes the importance
of creating high-quality products as
part of the project-based learning
(PBL) process. Students were given
examples of positive, helpful phrases
to use when giving feedback to im-
prove or modify other groups’ recipes.
Each group rotated around the
room at five-minute intervals to cri-
tique the other groups’ recipes and
used a different colored marker to
leave feedback about ingredients,
quantities, and overall impressions.
Feedback ranged from “We think
you should add more raspberries”
to “Put in less bananas.” At the end
of the rotations, each recipe was re-
viewed by all five groups, and mem-
bers returned to their own recipes
and made modifications based on
peer feedback.
For students, blending the recipes
and taste testing were the most excit-
ing parts of the process. To facilitate
safety, five adults assisted, one of
whom was the school’s principal (see
NSTA Connection). Each adult was
assigned to a group to use the knives
and operate the blenders; students
were in charge of collecting, measur-
ing, and adding ingredients.
All participants wore nonla-
tex, food-safety grade gloves
and hairnets. Each group was able
to taste test its own recipe and make
modifications based on its analysis.
They added more ingredients based
on taste and were required to keep
track of all changes made. The stu-
dent recorder for each group wrote
detailed descriptions of what was
added and the color of the juice.
Prior to class the next day, parent
volunteers were recruited to repro-
duce all the recipes in bulk quantity.
Small paper cups were filled three- The class ranks its favorite recipes.
quarters full and were frozen in the
teachers’ lounge. During class, each At the end of class and after When the official day came to
student was given a sample of the taste testing, students tallied up share the ice pops with the other sec-
other groups’ recipes and voted on the results and determined the win- ond-grade students, there was a sense
their favorites (see NSTA Connec- ning recipe based on the number of of pride and accomplishment among
tion). Examples of the flavors in- votes. The winning recipe consist- students. Again, parent volunteers
cluded “Berry-Banana-Pineapple” ed of cherries, oranges, bananas, blended the winning recipe in bulk
or “Cherry-Orange-Banana-Rasp- and raspberries. and froze it. During lunch the next
berry.” All groups decided to use day, the students distributed sample
fruits and not vegetables based on ice pops to their peers. The feedback
taste. Students were required to re-
Week 3: Ice Pop Day! was positive and overwhelming.
cord data about why they did or did Once the winning recipe was chosen, Comments ranged from, “Quite a
not like a specific recipe. We coached students focused on marketing their few people told me they wanted more
students to think about specific as- product to the other second-grade of them!” to “My friends were sad
pects when rating their choices. For classes (see NSTA Connection). because it broke when they tried to
example, students needed to think They determined the need for post- eat it.”
about taste, thickness, and aroma, to ers around the building, fliers for
name a few. Ultimately, they ranked the other classes, and a video for the
their favorite choices on scale of 1–5, morning announcements. Students Week 4: Group
with 1 being their favorite and 5 be-
ing their least favorite. If students
worked in groups, based on their in-
dividual product interest (e.g., flier
Presentations
didn’t like the taste of an ice pop, versus video), to create their mar- Finally, groups created multimedia
they would say such things as: “This keting strategy. Once the items were presentations using the website Edu-
one is too tart!” or “This needs more finished, they were handed out and creations and presented their product
cherries!” displayed in the school. to administrators. The presentations

September 2016 73

Students display a poster.
focused on the process of the project,
not how fun it was to make ice pops.
Each of the five groups focused on a
different aspect of the project: mak-
ing recipes, researching on iPads,
interviewing the nutritionist, tast-
ing and voting, and marketing. To
demonstrate what they had learned
in each phase, students used digital
pictures, recorded their voices, and
drew their own images. After that,
students showed their presentations
to administrators and gave a short
summary of their part of the proj-
ect. Administrators asked probing
questions and students relayed their
understanding. Students had many
takeaways:
• “We had to work together to
make it work. Nobody could just
have their own way.”
• “I felt pretty grown up!”
• “I think it was fun but hard.”
74 Science and Children
Final Thoughts
This project was a success because
it provided choice and voice for
students, as well as the opportu-
nity to make modifications based
on feedback. Students were pre-
sented with a problem and given
a scenario that could impact their
lives, which made it real and engag-
ing. Assessment of student learning
was achieved through formative and
summative means, such as daily dis-
cussions with the teachers and writ-
ten notes. We merely provided the
resources and structure to make this
project happen. The students made
the tough decisions about what
would work best and how to tackle
the problem at hand. In addition,
the groups of students were self-
sorted and regrouped multiple times
throughout the four weeks, based on
their interests in each phase of the
project. This kept students engaged
because the group work played to
their strengths and interests.
Integrating STEM into the class-
room can be a challenging and time-
consuming effort, but the results are
worth the investment. When other
teachers balk at the idea of STEM in
an elementary classroom, I use this
experience as an example. If these
second graders, using a PBL frame-
work, could drive this four-week
project on their own, then any group
of students can do it. ■
Laura Bubnick (laura.bubnick@
hcesc.org) is science curriculum con-
sultant for Hamilton County ESC at
Independence Elementary School in
Liberty Township, Ohio. Katie En-
neking is academic coach, and Julie
Egbers is second-grade teacher, both
at Lakota Local School District in
Liberty Township, Ohio.
Internet Resource
Project Symbaloo
www.symbaloo.com/mix/
grade2healthyPopsicles
References
Larmer, J., and J.R. Mergendoller. 2010.
Seven essentials for project-based
learning. Educational Leadership 68
(1): 34–37.
NGSS Lead States. 2013. Next
Generation Science Standards: For
states, by states. Washington, DC:
National Academies Press.
NSTA Connection
Download a parent volunteer
letter, a checklist for creating
the ice pop ads, and the taste-
testing worksheet at www.nsta.
org/SC1609.
Connecting to the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS Lead States 2013):
K-2-ETS1-1 Engineering Design
www.nextgenscience.org/k-2ets-engineering-design
The chart below makes one set of connections between the instruction outlined in this article and the NGSS. Other valid
connections are likely; however, space restrictions prevent us from listing all possibilities. The materials, lessons, and
activities outlined in the article are just one step toward reaching the performance expectations listed below.
Performance Expectation
K-2-ETS1-1: Ask questions, make observations, and gather
information about a situation people want to change to
define a simple problem that can be solved through the
development of a new or improved object or tool.
Science and Engineering Practices
Asking Questions and Defining Problems
Developing and Using Models
Analyzing and Interpreting Data
Disciplinary Core Ideas
ETS1.A: Defining and Delimiting Engineering Problems
• A situation that people want to change or create can
be approached as a problem to be solved through
engineering.
• Asking questions, making observations, and gathering
information are helpful in thinking about problems.
ETS1.C: Optimizing the Design Solution
• Because there is always more than one possible solution
to a problem, it is useful to compare and test designs.
LS1.C: Organization for Matter and Energy Flow in
Organisms
• All animals need food in order to live and grow. They
obtain their food from plants or from other animals.
Plants need water and light to live and grow. (K-LS1-1)
Crosscutting Concept
Structure and Function
Connections to Classroom Activity
Students:
• developed original, healthy recipes based on research
and observations of what makes a “tasty” ice pop.
• identified common school allergens to dictate safe food
choices in the ice pops.
• developed questions for the nutritionist and used the
information gained to improve recipes.
• gathered information from the Symbaloo to drive their
decision-making about the components of the recipes.
• obtained information about healthy food choices
through questioning, pictures, models, websites, and
interviews.
• constructed and created samples of original recipes
using research-based methods.
• analyzed peers’ recipes and provided constructive
feedback; collected data and modified recipes based on
peer review.
• recognized the need for healthy alternative treats in the
cafeteria and developed guiding questions to address
the problem.
• initially developed recipes on paper and shared these
with a small group to get feedback.
• asked questions for class discussion based on
observations and used feedback to modify the product.
• recorded observations on data sheets throughout the
process and discussed data and results to modify the
product.
• compared several recipes during the taste-testing
process and drew conclusions about which was the most
viable for sale to other students.
• worked with the nutritionist to expand their knowledge of
what types of foods are better for fueling their bodies.
• asked questions and performed research about
allergens, nutritional content, and macromolecule
makeup.
• analyzed and evaluated the successful ingredients in the
recipes of all groups.
• self-evaluated their own recipes to make a final iteration.
September 2016 75